End of `City` road for Carlos Tevez

Feroz Khan

Since the time Manchester City got access to the riches of a UAE based oil baron, they have hoped for nothing but a turnaround in their fortunes. They based their revival and claim to the top flight of Premier League football on the single-minded agenda of splurge and poaching. The dream is to bring back the glory days of 1960s and 70s and a desire to see their name taken in the same breath as their decorated city rivals Manchester United. In short, they want the Premier League title, if not Champions League which sounds too ambitious at the moment. Little would they have known that one of their most ambitious purchases in 2009 from rivals Manchester United would haunt them and threaten to ruin their dream start of an otherwise perfect 2011 Premier League season. In over a decade, he was the first ever to move among the two city rivals since Terry Cooke and he had a brilliant start at City where he netted 29 goals in 42 appearances in the debut season. However, the honeymoon period wasn`t destined to last long as Tevez started throwing tantrums soon after the beginning of his second season at the Etihad stadium. The Argentine has used every arsenal at his disposal to let the City bosses and fans know about his displeasure at staying with the club of which he was the captain and leading scorer in the previous season of English Premier League. Things got worse during their Champions League fixture against Bayern Munich on 27th September 2011, when he refused to come on as a substitute at a time when his side was struggling behind. Earlier attempts of Tevez to move back to his old club Corinthians faced a stiff roadblock resulting him being stripped off captaincy and reduced to a bench-warmer but nevertheless, he continued to play with the nerves of his club owners and manager alike putting one transfer request after another. Roberto Mancini has made his intentions clear that he wants Tevez out of one of the most expensive squads built over the last few years at City as the repeated fall-outs with the Argentine seem to derail his plans for the club that looks for a successful foray in their first ever Champions League appearance. From being one of the jovial characters off and on-field alike, Tevez has unfortunately acquired a selfish, greedy persona characterized by his move to City from Manchester United that now pays him a handsome 2,50,000 pounds a week! For all his antics, Tevez doles out terse response - family reasons. He even went on to blast Manchester in an interview terming it as a city not fit enough for even a vacation. Not that this has got something to do with the club, but Carlos Tevez has had a history of being a figure of controversy in each of the clubs he has played over the years. The turn of events over the years have seriously raised questions whether the love for the game he exhibited in plenty when he first came to England is dead. Whether the footballer has cultivated a dislike for England as a whole or there is more than meets the eye is anyone’s guess. Sheikh Mansour might have all the petro-dollars at his disposal, but paying a person whose heart and mind isn’t with you is a sheer wastage of money and talent. Also, this isn’t doing any good to the image of their club either. What is obvious is the perception in the unadulterated mind of an innocent fan who seriously doubts his loyalty which is under severe scrutiny and few will be willing to shed even a tear or two when the troubled relationship saga finally draws a closure. What these incidents reveal is the fact that there are still some things that money can’t buy and nothing better than Tevez and his tryst with English football serve as a perfect example for that. In a way Tevez somehow represents what all is going wrong with football these days. As the beautiful game becomes a slave to the money spinning royalties, aggressive and relentless pursuance of one’s ambitions are becoming an order of the day. In the milieu that follows, lesser fortunate clubs or the frugal ones like Arsenal suffer as a result. UEFA’s attempt to cap the financial spending through Financial Fairplay (FFP) proposal has met criticism, of course from the rich club owners; to whom Arsene Wenger refers to as a rich cartel hell-bent on snatching everything from others. Clearly, City need to get rid of Tevez if they want to see their humongous investment fructify and show maturity in their future signings.